Nuke Detection is Latest Fallout from Georgia War

The Republic of Georgia is one of the primary routes for the smuggling of nuclear materials out of the former Soviet Bloc. The U.S. has spent millions training and equipping the Georgian government to thwart nuclear trafficking. The recent Russian invasion has set this effort back significantly.

There have been documented cases of nuclear smuggling in Georgia, and if a terrorist organization is looking for a chance to move nuclear materials, the chaos following the
Russian invasion presents a golden opportunity for bad people. But keep the tinfoil hats in the drawer. It ain’t quite conspiracy time.

It’s unclear whether the damage was deliberate. Poti was the subject of a large-scale Russian attack which destroyed most of the Georgian
Navy. The detection equipment was reportedly damaged by a cluster bomb which are area weapons with high probabilities for collateral damage. So my guess is that the Russians did not intend to destroy the detection equipment. No nation-state benefits from disruption to the anti-smuggling efforts, and it does not appear the Russians placed any consideration for their disruption of a multi-lateral effort designed for everyone’s collective security.